Hey, Good Game

Guest Zach Gage, a renowned game designer, discusses creating unique digital puzzles like Good Sudoku and Really Bad Chess. He shares insights into his creative process, challenges in game design, and building Puzzmo.com. Exploring his artistic family background, innovative game examples, and balancing business with creativity.

Jim Horne, creator of Microsoft FreeCell and xwordinfo.com, shares his journey from early programming to developing FreeCell for Windows. He discusses his time at Microsoft, including interactions with Steve Ballmer. Jim highlights the unsolvable nature of FreeCell and his recent game collaboration,

Tracy Fullerton discusses creating 'Walden,' blending philosophy with gameplay, challenges of game development, mentorship in game design, and the importance of emotional experience goals and diverse voices in the industry.

Acclaimed author Blake Harris discusses Sega and Nintendo's rivalry, revealing internal conflicts at Sega. He talks about the impact of Oculus on tech, Larry David's upcoming book, and writing about cultural icons. Harris shares insights on persistence, research, and storytelling.

Game producer Jeff Petriello discusses his journey to the New York Times, the evolution of NYT games like Wordle and Strands, and the significant role of games in building social connections. He also shares insights on teaching game design, transitioning careers, and the creative process behind game development.

Game developer Aaron shares his journey into game development and attempts to acquire Wordle before the New York Times did. The podcast explores online game monetization, the rise of Wordle, and the missed opportunity of acquiring the popular word game.

Mark and Jeff Rogers, creators of Canuckle and Canoku games, discuss their game development process, hiatus, collaborations, community engagement strategies, partnerships, future plans, AI use, philanthropy, and lessons learned. They share insights on Canuckle's genesis, competitive spirit, merchandising, and monetization strategies, and their plans for potential partnerships with entities like the New York Times' Wordle.

Devin Spikowski, the creator of WordPeaks, discusses the creative process, artistic aspects of game development, gaming influences, challenges, and future plans. The podcast explores the evolution of WordPeaks, leveraging feedback, building a community, monetization strategies, and keeping the game accessible. Spikowski also shares insights on game enhancements, player feedback, collaborations with other developers, and promoting the game through various social media platforms.

Award-winning game designer Frank Lantz discusses the relationship between games, culture, and education. Topics include comedy in game design, addictive nature of games, narrative writing, societal impact of games, and the role of humor in game development. Lantz highlights the importance of well-written narratives and interactive systems in games.

David Turner, creator of Semantle.com and game developer, shares insights on his game design process, challenges in user testing, creativity in game development, and effective marketing strategies. He discusses the journey from ideation to acquisition, upcoming projects like a graphical adventure game, and advice for aspiring game developers. Turner also explores the complexities of game difficulty, puzzle testing, monetization, and the decision to sell a game.